Policy Adjustments on Taiwan

April 27, 2001

Editorial

In a pair of television interviews Wednesday, President Bush
reformulated the diplomatic language that has long defined American
policy on defending Taiwan. By openly declaring that America would
defend Taiwan in the event of an unprovoked attack from mainland
China, he broke new ground. But subsequent clarifications by Mr. Bush,
the State Department and White House aides emphasized that the charged
language was less significant than it sounded, and China would be
wrong to read too much into it. It has long been assumed that the
United States would help Taiwan defend itself against mainland
aggression, and Mr. Bush, in later statements, made clear that the
United States was sticking to the other half of its policy of
strategic hedging. That is to say, the island could not count on
American help if it provoked Beijing by declaring independence.

In the first of the two interviews, on ABC's "Good Morning
America," Mr. Bush said that the United States had an obligation
to provide "whatever it took" to help Taiwan defend itself,
and refused to rule out the use of American military force. A few
hours later, on CNN, he reminded Taiwan that "we support the
one-China policy," and would not consider a declaration of
independence by Taiwan consistent with that policy. The implication of
his words is that Washington would not feel obliged to defend Taiwan
from the possible military consequences of such a declaration. Those
two points, taken together, represent only a modest departure from
existing American policy. That adjustment lies in the more explicit
description of a possible military response to China.

Ever since Washington began the process of normalizing relations
with Beijing in the 1970's, American presidents have used ambiguous
language about defending Taiwan. In 1979 the United States abrogated
its defense treaty with the island. But in the same year Congress
enacted the Taiwan Relations Act, which said that any use of force or
coercion against Taiwan would be treated as a matter "of grave
concern" to the United States.

The language is deliberately cloudy, but its purpose is clear.
Washington has wanted Beijing to understand that any unprovoked attack
on Taiwan risked triggering an American military response. But it has
also wanted Taiwan to know that American support was not guaranteed
and might not be forthcoming if Washington judged that Taiwan's own
actions had provoked Beijing into using force. Those same two broad
messages were conveyed by Mr. Bush's statements yesterday.

Over all, however, it was hardly a smooth performance from a chief
executive still suspected of feeling his way on foreign policy. Mr.
Bush's staff has scheduled a series of hundred-day interviews. The
picture emerges of a chief executive who has a firm line on domestic
issues, but still seems shaky about the diplomatic message he wants to
send.